advertisement

Lefevre's cold-blooded goal lifts Fremd

Fremd substitute James Lefevre came to the rescue.

With 12 minutes left in Class 3A Palatine sectional championship action, the sophomore fired home the winning goal to send the No. 3 seed Vikings to a 2-1 victory over No. 13 Highland Park.

The win moves the Vikes (18-5-1) into Tuesday's Barrington supersectional against the winner of the Niles North sectional (New Trier vs. Evanston, Saturday).

The dramatic win marked the first time the Vikings have reached the supersectional since 2011 when they took third place.

"It was quite a night out there, and one that I feel fortunate to come out of with a win to advance," said Fremd coach Steve Keller, who watched his side put just 1 shot into the back of the net despite having a fierce wind at its back for the first 40 minutes.

The Vikings held a 1-0 lead over the Giants (13-7-4) at intermission.

"Frankly, we were disappointed we didn't go into the break with a 3-0 lead, that was our goal," Keller said. " Not getting another goal or two meant we had to defend like crazy, because (Highland Park) is a very good team. They possess and attack with the best of them.

"For us, our plan was to get to the break at 0-0 because we felt the we could come away with a win," said Highland Park coach Blake Novotny. "The momentum had changed after we got back even, and I felt like we had another one or two still in us at that point.

"But Nos. 10 (Zach Schoffstall) and No. 5 (Ben Poder) did a great job up top against us, as did their keeper (Will Lefevre), who maybe stopped two or three from going in. Then their No. 16 (James Lefevre) hit a great shot for the game-winner."

After a chess match in the first 10 minutes, Fremd used the wind and confidence move forward with the hope of solving the Giants' back line and superb keeper Carlos Pineda.

The Vikings were sharp in the attack, but lacked the bite in the final third to test Pineda with anything serious until Lefevre went airborne to push a Zach Schoffstall corner around the back post at 33 minutes.

In the 28th minute, Schoffstall threw a perfect ball onto the foot of his brother, Luke. The sophomore tucked the toss just inside the near post.

"We wanted more in that first half, but their keeper did a great job for them," said Zach Schoffstall. "That meant we had to defend and really tighten things up in the second half."

Fremd was the more dangerous side after intermission.

Jacob Cuthbert put Rohan Menon through and he nearly earned a penalty kick after being taken down in the box.

Moments after Will Lefevre sent a Zach Kohn strike just over the bar, Eamonn Moore drew the Giants even at the back post at 57 minutes.

"You get a little nervous when your opponent scores with the wind at its back, because you feel the momentum changing very quickly," Keller said.

The pattern of the play changed immediately after the Moore equalizer.

But 11 minutes later against the run of play, James Lefevre changed the course of history for the 2014 Vikings.

"(Ben) Poder got the ball into the area, and I just ran up onto the ball and smacked it," said James Lefevre, whose searing low drive beat Pineda, who was far off his line when play moved to the Vikings' end.

Omar Rodriguez was stopped cold in close by Will Lefevre in a last-gasp effort by the Giants to force overtime.

"I've never seen anything like this before with the wind and the cold," said Zach Schoffstall. "But it doesn't matter now because we're still alive and playing."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.